Walmart Health Research Institute to Host Clinical Trials at 4 New Sites

The Walmart Health Research Institute (WHRI) plans to open four research sites this spring, saying they will make it easier for people to participate in clinical trials.

WHRI will launch the research sites in collaboration with independent clinical research organization Care Access and will place them in three former Walmart Health locations and one rural Walmart store, it said in a Thursday (Jan. 22) press release.

Each site will host Care Access clinical teams who will offer health screenings, share information about research opportunities and provide information about participation in studies, according to the release.

WHRI is a Walmart organization that connects people with clinical trials in their area, according to its website. These clinical trials test new medications, devices or medical tests, and offer participants new healthcare options, per the site.

The new research sites are meant to provide communities with easier access to clinical trials that might otherwise be available only in faraway large academic medical centers, according to the press release.

“Bringing research into familiar community settings helps remove those barriers while also opening doors to potential benefits, including early access to innovative treatments and therapies that may shape the future of care,” WHRI said in the release. “For some participants, research can offer additional options when standard approaches are limited. For all participants, it provides an opportunity to contribute to medical advances that can benefit others in their community and beyond.”

Walmart launched WHRI in October 2022, saying the project is designed to increase community access to healthcare research.

“WHRI will be focused on innovative interventions and medications that can make a difference in underrepresented communities including older adults, rural residents, women and minority populations,” the retailer said at the time in a press release.

In another recent move, Walmart said Jan. 8 that it launched a digital destination designed to help customers access health and wellness services and products. The new Better Care Services offers access to third-party providers for urgent care and behavioral health, Eli Lilly and Company’s direct-to-consumer offering LillyDirect, and personalized food and recipe recommendations from Walmart’s artificial intelligence-powered Nutrition Hub.

Walmart will host its annual Wellness Event at 4,600 pharmacies nationwide on Saturday (Jan. 24), offering free health screenings, low-cost immunizations and wellness consultations.